The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c35.71

v2.c35.71

In addition to the normal rites special forms² are prescribed for many cases, such as the death of an Agnihotrin, of a pregnant woman after the saving of the embryo, and a Brahman who has acquired knowledge of the Brahman, the rite in his case being the Brahmamedha.³ In the case of death in absence the body may be preserved in oil or only the bones brought back for the formal rites. When a man is believed dead the cremation of a figure representing him is allowed, and, if after such a rite has been performed he should return alive, he is subjected to the same form of ritual as a newly born child, including remarriage to his wife.⁴ The modern practice by which in the burial of an ascetic his skull is broken open with a coconut to allow the escape of the spirit, though based on a doctrine of the Upaniṣads⁵ as to the departure of the soul through the skull on death, is not recorded in any early Vedic text. Though children under two were usually buried or thrown away, they might be cremated if their teeth had grown;⁶ burial in the house which is elsewhere often recorded—perhaps as a mode of securing rebirth in the mother—is unknown.